Indonesian shoe factory sees clash

AFP, JAKARTA

Fri, Oct 19, 2012 - Page 15

More than 1,300 people clashed with security guards at an Indonesian shoe factory which supplies sportswear giants Adidas and Mizuno, police said yesterday, a few months after they were sacked for striking over better pay.

The workers were laid off in July after walking out over demands for back pay following a hike in the minimum wage at the start of this year.

Confirming the clashes during a rally at which the former workers were calling to be reinstated, Wahyu Widodo, police chief of Tangerang, said police were “helping mediate” between protesters and the owners of the Panarub Dwikarya factory.

Indonesia is an increasingly popular destination for major manufacturing companies, lured by cheap labor, but the 240 million-strong nation has witnessed frequent bouts of labor unrest as workers demand better pay and employment rights.

The protest in Tangerang, about 40km west of Jakarta, turned violent after security guards hosed down angry former employees with dirty water, protesters said.

“The workers want to be hired back, their children’s education is depending on it, and we want the company to sit together with us and work on an agreement,” said Ernawati, from the Independent Labor Union Alliance, which took part in the rally.

Adidas issued a statement after the July strike urging the factory — which the German company calls an “overflow” facility for its local supplier — to rehire the workers and pay the wages owed.